Fansided

Michigan State basketball: 5 best seasons in Spartans history

By Mike Phillips

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans while playing the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Breslin Center on March 08, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans while playing the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Breslin Center on March 08, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Best Michigan State basketball seasons
(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

3. Best Michigan State basketball seasons: 2008-09

One of the few knocks on Izzo’s resume is that he has just one national championship despite making it to nine Final Fours. Part of the reason why is because the Spartans have only reached the title game twice, with one of those appearances coming in 2009.

Michigan State hadn’t reached the Final Four since 2005, but this edition of the Spartans was loaded. Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan served as the leaders of this team, which also included young freshmen Korie Lucious and Draymond Green.

The Big Ten regular-season was smooth sailing for Michigan State that year, which went 15-3 to easily capture the title by four games. The Spartans did lay an egg in their second game of the conference tournament, losing by a dozen to Ohio State to cost themselves a shot at a no. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The selection committee gave Michigan State the two seed in the Midwest Region, which didn’t deter the Spartans, who knocked off Kansas and Louisville in Indianapolis to get back to the Final Four. The site of that year’s Final Four was in Detroit’s Ford Field, giving the Spartans a huge home-court advantage.

Michigan State used that advantage to knock off UConn to get to the title game, but they were completely overwhelmed by one of Roy Williams’ best North Carolina squads. The Tar Heels won by 17 to claim the title, a fact that shouldn’t diminish just how good Michigan State was that year.